element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • About Us
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
Test & Tools
  • Technologies
  • More
Test & Tools
Blog A New C210 Tip Soldering Iron: Meet the E210!
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Documents
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Join Test & Tools to participate - click to join for free!
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Group Actions
  • Group RSS
  • More
  • Cancel
Engagement
  • Author Author: shabaz
  • Date Created: 30 Oct 2023 8:55 PM Date Created
  • Views 7085 views
  • Likes 14 likes
  • Comments 3 comments
  • E210
  • c245
  • S60
  • soldering tips
  • usb-c
  • L245
  • jbc
  • soldering iron
  • soldering
  • c210
  • soldering_tools
Related
Recommended

A New C210 Tip Soldering Iron: Meet the E210!

shabaz
shabaz
30 Oct 2023

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • First Impressions and Ergonomics
  • User Interface
  • Iron Stand
  • Power Source
  • Performance
  • Grounding
  • Summary

Other blogs with related content: 

 USB-C Soldering Iron Quick Review: Sequre S60 

 USB-C Soldering Iron as a Daily Tool 

 Easy Grounding for USB Soldering Irons 


Introduction

During daily use, I have a fairly old JBC soldering station that accepts integrated-heater soldering tips ranges known as C245 and C210. The C210 range tips are small, but pack a lot of performance, and there is a wide range of them to suit many through-hole and surface-mount soldering needs.

I was keen to find a lower-priced alternative to the JBC soldering station, that could accept the same tips, since I have perhaps a dozen of them, and I’d want compatibility. In a previous mini-review I tried an iron called Sequre S60 which accepted the C210 tips. It was a nice soldering iron, but recently some more C210-compatible soldering irons have become available, so I thought I would give them a shot (and then give them to some kids for soldering, since they are far better than the cheapy mains powered soldering irons that I grew up using.

I decided to try out the YouYue E210. This isn’t an in-depth review (mainly because I felt it was merely an adequate iron, but not spectacular).

image

First Impressions and Ergonomics

The E210 on paper looks like it will have great handling. It is very slim, and has an hour-glass finger-grip area. It also looks quite nice, made from what looks like anodised aluminium.

The photo above shows the same C210 soldering tip model inserted inside both the E210 and the S60. The finger-to-tip distance is short on both irons (if you’re coming from traditional soldering irons), however I’m used to a very short distance, and I didn’t like that the tip stuck out so much with the E210.

Another annoyance is that the E210 finger grip area is quite slippery compared to the plastic S60. This could be solved by applying some heatshrink. I think it would then feel pretty good!

The tip insertion feels good. It feels like decent contact is being made, but I couldn’t unscrew it to examine the internals. The end is screwed on really tightly (it may be glued).

image

User Interface

I like the E210 user interface, because it is so simple. It doesn’t have a lot of functionality; all you can really do is change language (Chinese or English), change temperature, change the sleep period, and apply a temperature adjustment. The simple interface suits me fine, but the S60 has far more functions (and the S60 display can be rotated for left-handed users). With the E210, if you’re left-handed then you’ll have to live with the up-side down temperature display (it’s not a big deal; the temperature display is very large and bright, and easy to read upside down). In summary, I liked the simple approach here.

Iron Stand

The iron stand is not bad. It looks good, and, although it would have been better heaver, the weight is reasonable. You do need to take a bit of care to make sure the iron is fully inserted, otherwise it will tip out of the stand.

image

There are V-shapes in the stand, intended for removing hot soldering tips. It’s actually not a big deal removing hot tips with a piece of paper folded a few times to insulate against the heat. There are a couple of holes in the stand where the tips can be stored vertically.

image

A little sponge is supplied, but I didn’t have a use for that, since I prefer brass or steel wool. Again, this is not a big issue, since it is possible to buy a separate holder for that.

image

Despite the weight of the stand, it will slide all over the place. Rubber feet are a must (they are not supplied).

image

Power Source

The E210 comes with a power supply, with a USB Type-A connector. The supplied USB cable feels pretty good; I’m not sure if it is silicone (it doesn’t feel as good as Anker silicone cables, but that’s a very high bar, and very expensive), but it is approaching that kind of feel. The cable is white so it will get scuffed and isn’t going to look that good over time.

image

The E210 has a USB-C connector, but as far as I can tell, it doesn’t function at all with a normal USB-C to USB-C cable. I tried two different-model cables that successfully worked with the S60, and neither of them worked with the E210. You’re stuck with using a USB-A to USB-C cable : (

image

Performance

Here is where I was quite unhappy with the iron. It doesn’t feel as good as using the S60. The S60 appears to have more power, whereas with the E210 I occasionally had to wait a couple of seconds for the heat to reach the target, when soldering very large copper planes. I think the E210 will be fine soldering normal-sized parts, but will struggle with large connectors and large ground planes.

The C210 series tips are tiny, so technically it is asking a bit much to use them for large connectors, but nevertheless I frequently use my JBC iron for such tasks, because it can deliver the power adequately. The S60 comes close to that. The E210 sadly doesn’t from what I can tell.

Incidentally, I used genuine C210 JBC soldering iron tips for the tests with the E210 and S60. The E210 was supplied with a knife-shaped tip which doesn’t have a lot of uses for me. I could not try it anyway, because it had a fault. It didn’t heat up. I didn’t mind since I want to use genuine tips.

 

Grounding

Note that very few USB soldering irons make grounding particularly easy. You'll have to figure out how to ground the iron if you're soldering semiconductors. I liked that the knurled tip entry end of the iron is electrically connected to the 0V connection inside the USB cable, and was connected to the metal shield at the USB-C connector end, so there is potential to rig something up. The supplied cable does not have the Type-A end metal shell connected to anything however. This blog might provide some ideas:  Easy Grounding for USB Soldering Irons but I'm tempted to just make a custom supply with a USB connection and ground already wired internally. 

Summary

It was a mixed experience with the E210. I would say it is good from far, but far from good. Some parts of it are great, but the performance is merely adequate, not stunning like I’ve come to expect from C210 and C245 tip based irons.

image

The stand is not bad, it actually fits with the S60 too. The cable is pretty good, because it feels soft and flexible. The E210 iron itself is easy to use, and will be fine for non-critical work. The S60 is better though. If you're looking to buy a USB iron, currently I think the L245 and S60 are good. The L245 uses the larger C245 series tips. The photo above shows (from top to bottom) the S60, E210, and L245.

Thanks for reading!

  • Sign in to reply
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 1 year ago in reply to genebren

    I'm determined to find a decent iron : ) 

    So far I'm mostly concluding that the L245 as being the most general-purpose and best all-round of the three irons. But for very fine work (e.g. QFN), then the Sequre S60 is a good option.

    The L245 has the benefit that it can be powered from any 20V power supply, so it can be easily earthed and uses normal USB-C cables. Also, with a decent supply (e.g. a 100W capable USB-C charger), it can solder almost anything. The power bar rarely goes above a few percent during normal soldering. On a solid copper plane it might reach 14% briefly. Also the sleep capability works well.

    The photo shows a C245-905 soldering iron tip attached to it, which is very good for general through-hole work. There are clone 905 tips, I tried one and it works fine, but the genuine ones might last longer (I've never needed to replace a genuine 245 series tip in approx 10 years).

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • genebren
    genebren over 1 year ago

    Nice review!  That is an impressive collection of light weight soldering irons.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • DAB
    DAB over 1 year ago

    Nice review.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2025 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube